Producer admits Thief is 'not perfect'

"I know that the PR guy will be pissed off because I'm going to tell you something, but let's do it anyway."

Thief producer Stephane Roy has admitted that this week's reboot is "not perfect", but hopes that fans familiar with the franchise will acknowledge Eidos Montreal's "respect [for] the legacy of the franchise" and walk away from the game having had fun.

Discussing the next-gen title with Canadian radio show VGS, Roy explained that if players "have fun" with Thief then that's "mission accomplished".

"I know that I told you that at the beginning of the interview but it's not bullshit, it's really important for us," he said. "It's the video game industry. It's a game. It's not a movie. I really want to make sure you're going to have fun. I know that the PR guy will be pissed off because I'm going to tell you something, but let's do it anyway. The game is not perfect.

"I'm fully sure if you want you're going to tell me that you noticed a couple of problems. Nothing is perfect. But at the end of the day, if you tell me that the problems aren't [inaudible] because you had fun, that's great."

Roy also says that Eidos Montreal "did [its] homework" when approaching the new game, but suggests that it was tough to balance the challenge "old-school" gamers demand with the linear experience offered by modern games.

"I hope if you already know this franchise, you're going to tell me that you feel that it's a real Thief game," he continued. "I hope that you're going to have the feeling that we really respect this franchise and we respect the legacy of this franchise because I think we did our homework and I think we understand what is a Thief game. But how we used to play games 10 years ago and how we play games today is different, so we worked very hard to respect both generations of players. Of course, I'm not objective, I'm the producer, but people like you will be able to tell us if it's a success or not."

Thief has received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising it for delivering a "compelling experience" that remains "true to its origins", and others criticising it for being "actively unpleasant to play".

The game releases in the UK this Friday on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC.